Report: Hopes Fluctuate as Efforts Persist to Solve Cabinet Stalemate

by Naharnet Newsdesk03 September 2018, 09:31

Instead of an anticipated meeting on Sunday between Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil to discuss the stalemates delaying the Cabinet formation, a telephone call between the two took place where Hariri asked to meet Bassil, media reports said on Monday.

“Hariri has telephoned Bassil on Sunday evening and asked to have a meeting with him before he holds talks with President Michel Aoun,” said LBCI station.

Al-Liwaa daily had reported yesterday that Hariri was expected to meet Bassil Sunday evening ahead of his much-anticipated meeting with the President.

It added that an actual line-up might not emerge before the second half of September, while stressing that the disagreements are narrowing.

Meanwhile, according to al-Akhbar newspaper, Hariri has apprised to Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea that “he can no longer bear the delay to lineup the government, and that the LF will not get the deputy PM post nor a sovereign ministerial portfolio,” as requested.

According to well-informed political circles, Geagea has made what he considered the “last concession”, and that “he won’t make any other concessions under any circumstances.”

“Speaker Nabih Berri and Hariri have managed to persuade Geagea to abandon a demand to allocate a sovereign portfolio and the position of the deputy prime minister,” al-Akhbar said quoting the circles.